I watched a man hit another man
across the head with a pint glass
the last time I was here.
Didn’t like something about him –
the way he spoke, the way he looked
when he picked up his pint.
My old friend Arthur used to say
this is where all our free thinkers drink.
That’s why it’s one small room, divided.
We’re all full of jokes and
we’re all full up of this anger,
never sure which.
Nathan Thanki is a human ecologist and writer living between North Belfast and Fusagasugá, Colombia. His poetry has been published in The Stinging Fly, Four X Four and Panning for Poems. His prose writing can be found at nathanthanki.substack.com.